Entertainment in the Early Days

Before the day of hard-surfaced roads and easy travel by
automobile, the pioneer town was the center for the educational and
social life of the townspeople and farmers of its trade area. In
Binford, the "Opera House, built soon after the town was established,
was the focal point of many of these activities. Here were held
the dances attended by both the young and the not so young - masquerade
dances on Halloween night, a Washington's Birthday ball, or a gala event
for a presidential election night, when election returns were posted on
a bulletin board and excitement ran high. Here, too, were staged
"home talent" plays, school programs and basket socials. For many
years it served, also, as a movie theater during the era of the silent
film, and as a gymnasium for both independent and high school basketball
games.

During the summer months Binford's baseball team drew
huge crowds of spectators to cheer or boo, as the case might be.
The grandstand is gone, but the baseball park is there to remind those
who remember, of the players on the team. They recall names like
Fred Lewis, Albert ("Ding") Ringlee, Oscar ("Rabbit") Alm, Harold
("Hod") Ehlers, Oscar Greenland, Albert and Henry Alfson, Carl ("Irish")
Peterson and Gulliver Peterson.

Midsummer was the time for an annual "Market Day"
celebration, when the band, under the direction of Ole Brodshaug, led
the parade to open the festivities. Activities consisted of races
of all kinds, baseball, and softball games, a tug of war, and just plain
socializing with the neighbors. The day ended with a dance at the
Opera House.